Mathematical Sciences: Mutual Synchronization of Biological Oscillators

Strogatz 9627189 许多生物振荡器群体可以表现出显著的集体行为。 尽管它们各自的固有频率不同，但振荡器自发地同步到一个共同的频率。 例子包括合唱蟋蟀，萤火虫，闪光一致，和同步发射心脏起搏细胞。 研究人员和他的同事们研究这些自同步系统的基本原理，使用分析，计算和实验方法。 数学研究关注相互同步的动力学和稳定性，用微扰理论、非线性动力学和统计力学的技术进行分析。 该项目的实验方面处理的合唱行为的雪树蟋蟀，作为一个模型实验系统，研究相互同步。 这些实验量化了个体男性反应的心理物理方面，因为它们与合唱有关，然后扩展到更大群体的行为，基于听觉感知，生理学和信号传播的经验措施。 我们的目标是了解这个生物系统中的相互同步，并根据数学模型的预测定量测试结果。 这项研究提供了第一个详细的实验研究在生物系统中的相互同步。 虽然蟋蟀的同步鸣叫是正在研究的现象，但该项目的目标要广泛得多。 在一组不同的振荡器中，同步是如何出现的？ 这个问题出现在所有的科学和技术中，例如同步激光阵列以获得更大的集体功率，或者同步心脏中的起搏细胞以产生连贯的跳动。 这种自同步系统的理论在数学上已经被考虑了将近30年，但是它们从来没有在任何真实的生物系统中进行过实验检验。 这项研究是朝着这个方向迈出的第一步。 预期不仅对我们理解生物同步化有益，而且对涉及振荡器阵列的技术应用的副产品也有益，例如超导约瑟夫森结和激光器。

Strogatz 9627189 Many populations of biological oscillators can exhibit remarkable collective behavior. Despite differences in their individual natural frequencies, the oscillators spontaneously synchronize to a common frequency. Examples include chorusing crickets, fireflies that flash in unison, and synchronous firing of cardiac pacemaker cells. The investigator and his colleagues study the principles underlying these self-synchronizing systems, using analytical, computational, and experimental methods. The mathematical investigations concern the dynamics and stability of mutual synchronization, analyzed with techniques from perturbation theory, nonlinear dynamics, and statistical mechanics. The experimental aspects of the project deal with the chorusing behavior of the snowy tree cricket, regarded as a model experimental system for studying mutual synchronization. The experiments quantify psychophysical aspects of individual male responses as they relate to chorusing, and then extend to the behavior of larger groups, based on empirical measures of auditory perception, physiology, and signal propagation. The goal is to understand mutual synchronization in this biological system, and to test the results quantitatively against the predictions of mathematical models. This study provides the first detailed experimental investigation of mutual synchronization in a biological system. Although the synchronized chirping of crickets is the phenomenon being studied, the goals of the project are much broader. How does synchrony emerge in a group of dissimilar oscillators? This issue arises throughout all of science and technology, in such problems as the synchronization of arrays of lasers to achieve greater collective power, or the synchronization of pacemaker cells in the heart to produce a coherent beat. Theories of such self-synchronizing systems have been considered mathematically for almost thirty years, but they have never been checked experime ntally against any real biological system. This study is the first step in that direction. Benefits are expected not only for our understanding of biological synchronization, but also for spin-offs to technological applications involving arrays of oscillators, such as superconducting Josephson junctions and lasers.